Amjad Shahin

Amjad Shahin (17 June 1939-) was a Shia cleric from Iraq.

Biography
Amjad Shahin was born on 17 June 1939 in Najaf, Iraq to a Shia Muslim family of Arabs. Shahin was educated in Islamic theology, and he attended the University of Tehran from 1960 to 1973, having risen from a student to become a professional Shia cleric. Shahin was educated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his sense of Islam, and he returned to Iraq as a radicalized Shia cleric. During the Iran-Iraq War, he was active in pro-Iranian militia groups, and he organized opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime. After the United States invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, he gained funding from Iran to equip several of his students with weapons to fight the Americans. Shahin preached anti-America messages, saying that Americans were crusaders who had set out to destroy Islam. Shahin's soldiers formed a part of the "Special Groups" that fought against the Americans on behalf of Iran; in 2011, after the American withdrawal, his forces fought against militant Sunni groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq. In 2014, Shahin called for his followers to join the Popular Mobilization Forces against the Islamic State and other Sunni militant groups.